Fine Art Photography

Move In Close

Moving in close is one of the most important guidelines in helping to improve your photography. But most cameras can't get you any closer than about two feet of your subject. Being able to move in extra close, even to a few inches, will open up whole new horizons for you. The world of close-up photography is exciting and rewarding and you will see things you never noticed before.

Close-up photography will take the ordinary and transform it into something beautiful. A single drop of morning dew clinging to the underside of a blade of grass, the delicate intimacy of a flower or leaf, a details of peeling paint on an old barn…all can become magnificent portrayals of mood and sensitivity.

Shooting close-ups is fun, easy and can be achieved with minimal investment. There are four types of close-up accessories from which to choose.

• Close-up Filters: These are the least expensive means of taking close-ups. The filters, which come in sets of three, are exactly like magnifying glasses when attached to the front of your lens. Each of the three has a different strangth so you can get as close as you wish.

• Close-up Rings: Also called extension tubes, these rings are sold in a set of three. The idea is to attach one or a combination of the hollow tubes between the lens and the camera body. The further the lens is away from the body, the greater the degree of magnification.

• Extension Bellows: Here, a flexible bellows is placed between the lens and camera body similar to extension tubes. The advantages of bellows are that you have an infinite latitude of lens to subject distances and you can achieve a very high degree of maginification.

• Macro Lenses: A macro lens is a close-up lens in itself. Macro lenses can be used as a normal lens, and then quickly converted to a close-up lens without pausing to add accessories. Many of today's popular zoom lenses have a macro lens mode built right into them.

Depth-of-field is a very important factor to consider in close-up photography. As you know, the closer you get to your subject, the less depth-of-field you get. By the time you move in very close, depth may be just a fraction of an inch. Focusing becomes critical and a small aperture is a must. In addition, it follows that when an image is magnified, the slightest camera movement will be exaggerated in the finished print. Therefore, always use a tripod when shooting close-ups.

When you move in close, details are magnified and surfaces can lose texture unless you light them in a way that accents their miniature topography. Therefore, try to use side or backlighting to bring out and enhance pattern and texture. Usually, shooting in the early morning or late afternoon will do the trick.

Close-up photography can be a fascinating experience. It will sharpen your vision, improve your knowledge, and reward you with exciting photographs.